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If you are a valid StarCityGames.com Premium member and still cannot view the article, please consult this FAQ. Fish had all but gone away. Between Mishra's Workshop decks that would wipe out their board, Oath of Druids decks that would be fighting their Cloud of Faeries with Akroma, Angel of Wrath, and a decline in the decks that Fish naturally preyed upon (like Psychatog and Four-Color Control), things just weren't looking good for Vintage's premier budget deck.
But the format has gone through a big upheaval in the last few months, and now there is more variety in Fish decks than ever before. Jacob Orlove is currently a win away from the top eight because of the unique U/G Fish variant that he's piloting today.
(NOTE: The finish will be updated after the tournament; "9999" is our placeholder finish for in-process decks - The Ferrett)
JP: What changes in the format allowed Fish to come back?
JO: Basically, Trinisphere being restricted.
JP: Do you mean that Trinisphere beat Fish, Trinisphere knocked out the decks that Fish normally beat, or that the decks that packed Trinisphere that people stopped playing were the ones that beat Fish?
JO: All of the above.
JP: What aspects of the deck needed to be shored up in order to bring Fish back?
JO: You need to replace Null Rod with Chalice of the Void. Chalice is faster since you can always play it on turn 1 and if you play it for zero, it never gives them mana if they Mana Drain it, so that slows them down. It also keeps them from playing Moxes to Weld into good stuff with Goblin Welder.
JP: Was that more because Null Rod was less good or that Chalice was just amazing?
JO: A year or so ago decks weren't as fast as they are now, so you could get away with needing that extra turn.
JP: How does the deck play differently from older Fish decks?
JO: Spiketail Hatchling is actually very "meh" now because instead of the old decks; playing out a Spiketail just means that your opponent has another little card to play around rather than doubling the speed of my clock.
JP: What's with that creature base?
JO: I can actually win games! Between Mongrel and Rootwalla, I can attack for a lot of damage really quickly. In the old Fish decks, the Factories and Ninjas were the biggest creatures in the deck, but now go from being the biggest creatures in the deck to just being some good two-power creatures.
JP: How does Aether Vial change things?
JO: Aether Vial is really, really good. It gives you great mana acceleration and makes your guys uncounterable. Shutting off Mana Drain is really important in this format. I guess that people didn't think about running Vial because a lot of Type 1 players don't play any of the other formats where Vial is insane.
JP: I guess that that makes Standstill a lot scarier now, too.
JO: I had one game that was sweet. I played out a Standstill and then attacked with a Factory and a Rootwalla, turned it into a Ninja, and then I got to Vial the Rootwalla right back into play without breaking the Standstill. It was nuts!
JP: What about Umezawa's Jitte?
JO: Jitte is great because it actually lets blue and green decks kill just about any creature. White and red have Swords to Plowshares and Grim Lavamancer, but green and blue really couldn't handle other creatures before Jitte. It's also a lot better than Sword of Fire and Ice, which is just awful because it doesn't really kill any creatures. Sword is like an expensive Curiosity for one of your creatures, but Jitte turns them all into Triskelions.
JP: It also works like a Moat as well, since you can reequip it to an untapped creature after combat.
JO: Well yeah... but this is Type 1 so there's never any creature combat. I mean, in theory I could do that against another Fish deck, but it kills their side on the first hit anyway. Maybe if I were playing against Juggernaut or something.
JP: Are there any special choices with the sideboard?
JO: I wanted something for Oath, so I figured that I would also side in a single Tundra so that I could fetch that out and be able to kill a turn 1 Oath without needing to discard it first. If I have to wait for a turn against them, that's probably enough time for them to Oath out their Akroma and it's hard to win if they do that.
Oxidize is there for Workshop decks, obviously, but is actually really good against other Fish decks. It kills their Null Rods, which they might leave in because of Jitte and Vial, and it's really good against their Factories, which are their best creatures.
Kira is there for decks that are loaded up with removal, like Landstill, but one use for them that I just found out is that they're a great answer to Old Man of the Sea, which is one of the best sideboard cards for people to bring in against Fish decks.
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